Interesting topic.
Back in the 80s and 90s I was lucky enough to be involved in a clean sheet of paper research project to investigate how the next generation of controls for a vertical landing jet fighter should be designed. Clearly they could be like a helicopter, like a Harrier or something new.
Since the helicopter and Harrier concepts both have issues that make them less than ideal for a vertical landing jet, something new was indicated. After many possibilities were tried we settled for pull the stick back to go up and push it forward to go down (surprise surprise) but at any speed. This meant that as you slowed to a hover that you continued using your normal technique for height control and were effectively just flying an aeroplane that did not stall. Today the F35B uses this concept.